I am the mother of 2 very energetic and handsome boys ages 6 and 12. They are true opposites and I love them for it. I have been married to the love of my life for 12 years and I look forward to many more! He is my rock and I am so grateful for him. When I am not in "mom" mode I am a Real Estate Agent, I have been a REALTOR for a little over 3 years and I love my job!
I recently entered the world of reviews and giveaways and I am having fun!
And I LOVE COMMENTS so leave them! :)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Welcome to Eco Friendly Wednesday this week I have one of the most fascinating natural products I have ever come across, Soap Nuts Laundry Soap. Now the name is slightly deceiving as first they are not nuts. They are a fruit from the Sapindus tree that grows in Nepal and India and they are so much more then laundry soap. When my Soap Nuts arrived I was so excited as I was quite intrigued by the fact that berries could clean my clothes plus my floors, my counter tops, my stove and so much more.

Soap Nuts can be used as is in your Washing Machine, simply throw 4-5 of the berries into the small muslin bags that are provided, toss into wash. When wash is done remember to make sure you remove them before putting clothes into dryer. My real test of the Soap Nuts were to try them with my smelly kitchen towels, I was just thrilled when they came out of the wash not smelling AT ALL! They really did stink! You can also take 10-12 whole soap and boil in 6 cups of water for about 30 minutes. You can use this as a cleaner, which I LOVED, it left my stove top clean and streak free, I was really impressed. Take 1 Tbsp of Soap Nut liquid and 1 Tbsp of vinegar add to 2 cups water and you have a window cleaner, again streak free, loved it.

What I personally thought was so amazing about Soap Nuts is their MANY uses. From toothpaste, shampoo, body soap, erasing lines on the face and of course cleaning products and so much more. I have psoriasis and it is recommenced to use soap nuts as a body soap, I have not tried this as of yet but intend to boil some down tonight for that purpose. Bottom line is they are AMAZING, NATURAL and cause no harm to the environment! I am hooked and will be purchasing them for sure!

How on earth can a fruit clean? Very simple...the outer shell of the fruit contains substances called saponins which have a detergent effect when water is added.

I was also sent a Coconut Scrub Pad, I loved that little scrubby so much was great for getting stuck on foods off my baking dish and it was scratch free. I used it all the time. Then one day I made dough for pretzels in my bread machine, it did not turn out, I used the scrubby to clean up the mess and the dough totally stuck to it! UGH!!!!! I had planned on letting it dry out then chipping it off but someone, not me, thew it away. I was sad!

I have some WONDERFUL NEWS! I have a 500g bag of Soap Nuts AND a Coconut Scrub pad to give away to one reader thanks to Buy Soap Nuts. Of course there are rules to follow..so here they are..

YOU MUST DO THIS FOR ALL OTHER ENTRIES TO COUNT!

-Visit Buy Soap Nuts site and tell me what you found fascinating about Soap Nuts! If you do not do this your entries will not count! Also if you do not have a way for me to contact you through your blog or you do not have a blog PLEASE make sure you leave your email in your comment so if you win I can contact you!

For additional entries which of course are ALWAYS optional:

-Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway make sure you use @my2boyz and in tweet Leave link in comment (you can do this once a day-leave daily comment!)

-Follow me on Networked Blogs (2 additional entries-leave 2 comments)

-Follow my blog (2 additional entries-leave 2 comments)

-Comment on another blog post of mine, let me know what one in comment (4 additional entries-leave 4 comments)

-Giveaway ends on 3/17/2010 at 11:59 PM and winners will be chosen by random.org.

-Winners will have 48 hours to respond to email or new winner/winners will be draw

-Limited to US & Canadian Residents only

Thank you and good luck!!!

This was not a paid post and my opinions are my own. I received Soap Nuts and a Coconut Scrub pad for my review. Big thanks to Buy Soap Nuts for this opportunity.

When an individual uses this soap nut cleanser to clean the affected area, the anti-microbial property of the soap nuts help in killing the germs that cause the disease, thus giving natural allergy relief. The absence of any kind of dye or toxins and even enzymes (which are known to cause skin irritation) in the soap nut makes it an ideal medicine for the treatment of skin ailmentsJennifer, jennem22 at yahoo dot com

I am following you on twitter too!I am helobuff on twitter.Love these soaps nuts, really want to give them a try. I have excema and did not know I could use these for a soap too! I think this would be the best thing for me laundry wise (since I need to use additive free soaps) and house cleaning too!

I so want to try these out, trying to be as green as I can. T thought it was interesting that you can also use these as hand, body soaps and that they are good to use when you have a skin injury, they are antibactiralsingermagic1(at)yahoo(dot)com

They are actually a fruit related to the lychee, so there is need to worry for those with nut allergies. However, if you are severely allergic to tree nuts, please test on your skin before using soapnuts.

They are actually not nuts at all. They are berries (also known as Soap Berries) that grow on trees in India & Nepal. There are two main varieties: sapindus trifoliatus (The Small Soap Nut) and sapindus mukorossi (The Large Soap Nut). The Large Soap Berry is the most commonly used in cleaning, but both varieties are quite effective.

I happen to know now that after using thme to wash clothes.....you can boil them & make a household cleaner!zestywonderland@gmail.com